Thailand is one of the great development success stories. Due to smart economic policies it has become an upper middle income economy and is making progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals.
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The overall outcome of the Public Sector
Development Policy Project for Thailand was satisfactory.
The risk to development outcome was moderate; the
Bank's performance... Show More + was moderately satisfactory; and the
borrower's performance was satisfactory. The original
project development objective was not revised. The reason
for the restructuring enables the withdrawals to be more
aligned with the implementation of the Royal Thai
Government's (RTG) investment plans for FY2013. The
extension also helps lower the cost of swapping the project
proceeds from US dollars to Thai Baht for the RTG. The baht
swap market is quite thin and is therefore volatile. Lessons
learned included, 1) reforms with wide support can be
implemented and maintained even during periods of
substantial political turmoil; 2) while it is common to
observe that political turmoil and/or political transitions
can affect the pace of DPL program implementation, the Thai
case shows something different: these problems can also
substantially delay loan utilization well past the date of
Board approval even when the macroeconomic framework is
acceptable; 3) Sustained engagement with the Thai
authorities over many years, despite the lack of a borrowing
program since 1999, allowed Bank to quickly respond to the
emerging global financial crisis and recession; and 4) it is
important to avoid using outcome indicators that are not
under the full control of the authorities. This is evident
in from the lack of a second Public Expenditure and
Financial Accountability exercise which would have yielded
the data needed for some of the outcome indicators. Show Less -

The Country Opinion Survey for FY2013 in
Thailand assists the World Bank Group (WBG) in gaining a
better understanding of how stakeholders in Thailand
perceive the WBG.... Show More + It provides the WBG with systematic
feedback from national and local governments,
multilateral/bilateral agencies, media, academia, the
private sector, and civil society in Thailand on 1) their
views regarding the general environment in Thailand; 2)
their overall attitudes toward the WBG in Thailand; 3)
overall impressions of the WBGs effectiveness and results,
knowledge work and activities, and communication and
information sharing in Thailand; and 4) their perceptions of
the WBGs future role in Thailand.

The Thai economy has been recovering
slowly from the global financial crisis compared to
countries like Malaysia and China. Growth in 2013 is
projected to be 3 percent... Show More + with slower than expected
performance in all components of gross domestic product
(GDP) - consumption, investment, next exports, and
government spending. Growth is projected to be 4.0 percent
in 2014 as the global economy recovers. Exports should
accelerate and may well be helped by the tapering of the
United States (U.S.) quantitative easing (QE) as the baht
depreciates. Taking a longer perspective, there remains
visible inequality in public service delivery and human
achievement outcomes. Addressing the regional disparities is
important for Thailand not only from a social equity
perspective, but also from a competitiveness and economic
growth perspective. As the population ages, Thailand is
seeking to move to a high income economy. Such a transition
will require a much broader base of healthy and high skilled
citizens. Suggested policy responses include: (a)
rebalancing public spending regionally, (b) improving the
functioning of local administration by devolving more
responsibility to local levels, and (c) supporting greater
accountability at the local level. This report is divided
into two parts: part one presents macroeconomic developments
in 2013 and 2014; and part two deals with equitable public
service provision in Thailand. Show Less -

Existing evidence forms a body of
"conventional wisdom" on the redistributive impact
of fiscal policies that has been recently questioned by more
disaggregated analyses.... Show More + This paper proposes an additional
extension to the traditional benefit incidence analysis to
explore further the extent to which the conventional wisdom
holds, as well as to provide effective guidance in fiscal
decision making. The benefit incidence analysis extension
includes linking fiscal policies with the concept of
equality of opportunities. The paper describes this approach
and showcases the application of the proposed
"opportunity incidence analysis" to six pilot
countries: Liberia, Cote dIvoire, Zambia, Tajikistan,
Thailand, and Paraguay. Three main contributions stand out:
first, opportunity incidence analysis complements
traditional benefit incidence analysis by applying its
mechanics to a more forward looking concept of equal
opportunity. Second, opportunities can be used to target
public spending with higher precision. Third,
micro-simulations can be used to understand the
cost-effectiveness of alternative spending interventions
that seek to improve equality of opportunities. All of these
results complement the diagnosis produced by traditional
incidence analysis and provide useful information to guide
specific policy decisions. Show Less -

Addressing regional disparities in
access to public services is an emerging development
challenge for Thailand. A well-functioning system of
Central-Local Government... Show More + Relations and proactive expenditure
policy can help achieve this goal. Providing responsive and
accountable public services are necessary for maintaining
trust of the citizens in government and fostering cohesion
within a unitary state like Thailand. Without a reversal of
current regional disparities in access to public services
and addressing tensions that are present in the
central-local architecture, Thailand runs the risk of
eroding public trust in government and leading to further
polarization. Thailand has a significant opportunity to
improve delivery of public services by: (i) making access to
public services more uniform across the country; (ii)
transitioning fully to a unitary decentralized form of
government with clearly demarcated roles and accountability
structures between different levels of government
(especially within health and education sectors) and to
administratively consolidate Laos into larger more
financially viable entities; and (iii) establishing national
service delivery standards, publishing annual performance
reports on these benchmarks along with unit costs of
standard goods and supplies procured, and publishing
reports on operations at the municipal level. Show Less -

The objectives of the Public Sector
Reform Development Policy Loan (PSRDPL) are to assist the
Royal Thai Government (RTG) in its response to the financial
crisis and... Show More + to support institutional development in the
public sector by: 1) improving the effectiveness of the
public financial management framework through better
governance and accountability; 2) enhancing the skills and
performance of the civil service; and 3) improving quality
and timeliness of service delivery. The closing date for the
project will be extended from December 31, 2012 until June
30, 2013. The RTG has so far withdrawn USD100 million and
intends to withdraw the remaining USD900 million in support
of the implementation of their FY2013 budget; in particular,
the extension will enable the withdrawals to be more aligned
with the implementation of the RTG's investment plans
for FY2013 (October 2012-September 2013) which will mostly
be in the first half of 2013. The extension will also be
helpful in lowering the cost of swapping the PSRDPL proceeds
from US dollars to Thai Baht for the RTG. The baht swap
market is quite thin and is therefore volatile. The
extension of the PSRDPL closing date to June 2013 will make
it difficult for speculative investors to predict when the
Ministry of Finance (MOF) will make the swaps and how much
each time. The extension will also allow the MOF to make
swaps in smaller amounts at a time - which will not swing
the swap market by too much which is undesirable by (and may
hurt) other non-speculative clients in the swap market (e.g.
exporters). This will be the second extension of the
project, and a cumulative extension of nine months. Show Less -

The objectives of the Public Sector
Reform Development Policy Loan (PSRDPL) are to assist the
Royal Thai Government (RTG) in its response to the financial
crisis and... Show More + to support institutional development in the
public sector by: 1) improving the effectiveness of the
public financial management framework through better
governance and accountability; 2) enhancing the skills and
performance of the civil service; and 3) improving quality
and timeliness of service delivery. The closing date for the
project will be extended from December 31, 2012 until June
30, 2013. The RTG has so far withdrawn USD100 million and
intends to withdraw the remaining USD900 million in support
of the implementation of their FY2013 budget; in particular,
the extension will enable the withdrawals to be more aligned
with the implementation of the RTG's investment plans
for FY2013 (October 2012-September 2013) which will mostly
be in the first half of 2013. The extension will also be
helpful in lowering the cost of swapping the PSRDPL proceeds
from US dollars to Thai Baht for the RTG. The baht swap
market is quite thin and is therefore volatile. The
extension of the PSRDPL closing date to June 2013 will make
it difficult for speculative investors to predict when the
Ministry of Finance (MOF) will make the swaps and how much
each time. The extension will also allow the MOF to make
swaps in smaller amounts at a time - which will not swing
the swap market by too much which is undesirable by (and may
hurt) other non-speculative clients in the swap market (e.g.
exporters). This will be the second extension of the
project, and a cumulative extension of nine months. Show Less -

The development objective of the
Highways Management Project for Thailand is to enhance the
efficiency, productive use, and management of the road
network. Specifically,... Show More + it supports the commercialization of
the road sector, strengthens the operations of the
Department of Highways, helps preserve road assets, and
improves competition and transparency in the award of
contracts. The project implementation progress for
activities is near completion, the project is rated
unsatisfactory due to slow procurement process for
activities under the additional financing. All civil works
have been completed with the remaining fund of US$441,283
under this category. All periodic maintenance works were
completed by September 2011 and the International
Procurement Consultant (IPC) has been hired since March 9,
2011. The only remaining activity is Consultancy for the
Design of Performance-Based Contracts (PBC), estimated at US$350,000. Show Less -

The development objective of the
Highways Management Project for Thailand is to enhance the
efficiency, productive use, and management of the road
network. Specifically,... Show More + it supports the commercialization of
the road sector, strengthens the operations of the
Department of Highways, helps preserve road assets, and
improves competition and transparency in the award of
contracts. The project implementation progress for
activities is near completion, the project is rated
unsatisfactory due to slow procurement process for
activities under the additional financing. All civil works
have been completed with the remaining fund of US$441,283
under this category. All periodic maintenance works were
completed by September 2011 and the International
Procurement Consultant (IPC) has been hired since March 9,
2011. The only remaining activity is Consultancy for the
Design of Performance-Based Contracts (PBC), estimated at US$350,000. Show Less -

Addressing regional disparities in
access to public services is an emerging development
challenge for Thailand. A well-functioning system of
central-local government... Show More + relations and proactive expenditure
policy can help achieve this goal. Providing responsive and
accountable public services are necessary for maintaining
trust of the citizens in government and fostering cohesion
within a unitary state like Thailand. Without a reversal of
current regional disparities in access to public services
and address tensions that are present in the central-local
architecture runs the risk of eroding public trust in
government and leading to further polarization. Thailand has
a significant opportunity to improve delivery of public
services by: (i) making access to public services more
uniform across the country; (ii) transitioning fully to a
unitary decentralized form of government with clearly
demarcated roles and accountability structures between
different levels of government (especially within health and
education sectors) and to administratively consolidate LAOs
into larger more financially viable entities; and (iii)
establishing national service delivery standards, publishing
annual performance reports on these benchmarks along with
unit costs of standard goods and supplies procured, and
publishing reports on operations at the municipality level. Show Less -

Addressing regional disparities in
access to public services is an emerging development
challenge for Thailand. A well-functioning system of
Central-Local Government... Show More + Relations and proactive expenditure
policy can help achieve this goal. Providing responsive and
accountable public services are necessary for maintaining
trust of the citizens in government and fostering cohesion
within a unitary state like Thailand. Without a reversal of
current regional disparities in access to public services
and addressing tensions that are present in the
central-local architecture, Thailand runs the risk of
eroding public trust in government and leading to further
polarization. Thailand has a significant opportunity to
improve delivery of public services by: (i) making access to
public services more uniform across the country; (ii)
transitioning fully to a unitary decentralized form of
government with clearly demarcated roles and accountability
structures between different levels of government
(especially within health and education sectors) and to
administratively consolidate Laos into larger more
financially viable entities; and (iii) establishing national
service delivery standards, publishing annual performance
reports on these benchmarks along with unit costs of
standard goods and supplies procured, and publishing
reports on operations at the municipal level. Show Less -

This report responds to a Ministry of
Public Health (MOPH) request to the World Bank to conduct
exploratory work to examine the impacts of public sector
reforms on human... Show More + resources for health (HRH), with the aim of
identifying areas where further analytical work may be
useful. A World Bank team interviewed a range of
stakeholders: senior officials of MOPH, the Office of the
Civil Service Commission (OCSC), the Office of the Public
Sector Development Commission (OPDC), and the Nursing
Council; directors and managers of district, provincial, and
regional hospitals and one health center; health care
workers; nursing instructors and students; as well as expert
observers and academicians. Interviews were conducted in
Bangkok and three provinces (Mae Hong Son, Khon Kaen, and
Songkhla) in February-March 2010, with participation of
researchers from MOPH's Health Intervention and
Technology Assessment Program (HITAP). The information in
this report is based on interviews, and a review of key
pieces of legislation and available English-language
literature and some Thai-language literature. We were not
able in this brief initial foray to conduct a comprehensive
in-depth review of regulations nor of all related
Thai-language research that has been conducted by a variety
of entities. With this in mind, we ask for readers?
forbearance and welcome comments. This report consists of a
concise main text that presents key issues and stakeholder
perspectives, and suggests further analytical work for
consideration. A series of annexes provide background about
the fundamental structure and features of health sector
employment, sample earnings data, and short profiles of
individual health workers interviewed by the team. Readers
who are not familiar with the main features of
Thailand's HRH may wish to review the annexes prior to
reading the main text. Show Less -

Thailand has been pursuing the
implementation of results based management techniques in the
public sector for over a decade. Leading this task is the
Office of the Public... Show More + Sector Development Commission (OPDC)
which has been supporting various agencies and departments
in undertaking a wide variety of results based management
reforms, including key performance indicators, balanced
scorecards, and individual performance bonuses, among
others. This report summarizes the results of a two week
fact finding mission and a one day workshop conducted by the
Office of the Public Sector Development Commission (OPDC) of
the Prime Minister's office in collaboration with the
World Bank's Public Sector Performance Global Expert
Team (PSP-GET) held on September 24, 2010 in Bangkok,
Thailand. This report covers the main areas to consider in
implementing a results based management system. The report
provides an overview of Thailand's Results Based
Management (RBM) system, with an emphasis on lessons from
international experience in leveraging performance
information to deliver results. Chapters on how to link
performance with planning and budgeting, as well as an
overview of incentives to improve performance are included.
Each chapter is loosely structured in the following way:
issues identified during discussions; relevant lessons from
international experiences; and overall recommendations and
findings of the PSP-GET. Show Less -

The objectives of the Public Sector
Reform Development Policy Loan (PSRDPL) are to assist the
Royal Thai Government (RTG) in its response to the financial
crisis and... Show More + to support institutional development in the
public sector by: 1) improving the effectiveness of the
public financial management framework through better
governance and accountability; 2) enhancing the skills and
performance of the civil service; and 3) improving quality
and timeliness of service delivery. The RTG is requesting
this US$1 billion PSRDPL to sustain economic recovery from
the global financial crisis. During loan preparation in late
2008 and early 2009, Thailand became one of the countries in
Asia most affected by the global financial crisis making
more urgent the need for resources. Around this time, the
political climate also deteriorated significantly. The loan
was negotiated in May 2009, but the government did not
submit it to Parliament as the political situation did not
allow parliamentary discussion as required by the
Constitution. The economy began to recover in late 2009, and
there has been a period of relative political calm since
June 2010. As a result, the government initiated the process
for parliamentary discussion of the loan, Parliament
approved the loan in August, and the Government has now
requested the Bank for final approval. The delay in
Parliamentary approval meant a relatively long gap between
negotiations and final board consideration. During this
period, the government continued to make significant
progress in implementation of the forward-looking reform
program discussed during negotiations, in addition to the
standard consideration of implementation of the prior actions. Show Less -

This project paper provides an
additional International Bank for Reconstruction and
Development (IBRD) loan in an amount of USD 79.30 million to
the Thailand Highways... Show More + Management Project (HMP). The
additional loan will mainly help finance the costs
associated with the widening of five national highway
sections from two lanes to four lanes (totaling 2 16
kilometers) under the Royal Government of Thailand
(RGT)'s four-lane Second Phase Highway Widening Project
(phase II). Two sections are located in the Northeast Region
of the country, two in the South, and one in the Eastern
Seaboard. The widening of these sections is proposed for
accommodating the growing traffic and improving road safety,
with an expected outcome in the reduction of road user costs
(including vehicle operating costs, travel time costs and
traffic accident costs) by at least 10percent on the
improved sections. The existing loan for the HMP was
approved on December 9, 2003, and became effective on March
15, 2004. The implementing agency is the Department of
Highways (DOH). There was a one-year extension of the loan
closing date from June 30, 2008 to June 30, 2009. This was
followed by an extension to September 30, 2009 for the
processing of a second order restructuring, and another
extension to June 30, 2010 as part of the completed
restructuring. The total disbursed balance as of February 3,
2010 is USD 77.89 million, which represents 92.4percent of
the loan commitment of USD 84.29 million. Show Less -

The Government of Thailand has been
undertaking wide ranging public financial management reforms
since 1999 across the six core dimensions of Public
Financial Manag... Show More +ement (PFM) performance identified in the
performance measurement framework. Key reforms include: (i)
the deployment of an integrated Government Fiscal Management
Information System (GFMIS) for budget execution and
reporting; (ii) implementation of Strategic Performance
Based Budgeting (SPBB) framework; (iii) implementing the
International Public Sector Accounting Standards for
reporting; (iv) conducting financial, procurement,
performance, and risk based audits; and (v) putting in place
a system of key performance indicators (KPIs) to foster
greater service delivery responsiveness by government
agencies. This Public Expenditure and Financial
Accountability (PEFA) report aims to assess the status of
the PFM system in Thailand across the six core dimensions of
PFM performance using the standard PEFA methodology of 28
high level indicators, excluding the donor practices indicators. Show Less -